Extended Nightmares

Part 6

Abdel was a skinny and dark seventeen. He was fluent in nearly every language known to mankind, but he could not read or write any of them except for one version of Sanskrit, the rest he could only speak. Four years ago he had suddenly appeared in front of Vanya Crros; the leader of Crros.

Vanya Crros was the kind of man whose name did not match his style. His name made him sound almost angelic, with an air of contentment, ease, good and beauty. Instead he was more of a devil. Nearly everything he had done, he had done for his own amusement, and in his mind his name was a happy accident. It made people think he would treat them well and make them happy, as if a spell had been cast upon them; a spell that would hide the truth and bloodshed. He had built the entire Crros group with his own two hands nearly 223 years ago, which is why he made everyone treat him like a king. No one knows exactly what keeps him alive, but what little they do know is that even though he keeps to the indoors, he does not survive off blood. But rather some other medium that keeps him young in appearance, vibrant, and his heart forever beating. He was no vampire, but some other monstrous creature.

Abdel scurried around a corner quick and quiet as a mouse. He was always afraid of being caught by his master, Vanya Crros, and sent to be whipped by Gareth, or be forced to whip some other poor soul; his least favorite duty, but happily it was something he rarely had to do because Gareth enjoyed it so much. He had left his room in the main house’s basement earlier that evening to try to find out why Vanya had sent Nuri Theron, his sorcerer and creation, to meet with Samuel Calhoun. Even though Samuel had the face and sound of a toad, no one was better with a gun.

Abdel was almost back to his bedroom, which made him feel like he could barely breath and was opening the door, when Gareth grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him upstairs. The backs of his ankles kept hitting the stairs and were beginning to throb when Gareth had finally towed him all the way up the dark stairs to the top floor of the house.
The house was more of a mansion than a house. Crros family had always been rich, and had had it built in the late 1700’s, not to long before Vanya had been born, but they died when he was just 21.
A cool, smooth, hard voice floated toward Abdel and Gareth as they left the staircase.

“Bring him in here Gareth.”

Gareth brought Abdel to the only open doorway in the whole corridor, and into what was used as the throne room for all intents and purposes. However, in reality it used to be the ballroom. Since the last glorious ball that Vanya’s long dead parents held, the red velvet curtains had been kept closed, but the room always had a shine to the marble floor, and an extra brightness and glory to the angels and cherubs on the ceiling that had seen god knows what. The room’s appearance was symmetrical to the man that was sitting in it, but was completely the opposite of his personality.

Abdel was always surprised by Vanya’s appearance. Only his eyes showed what he really was. And those eyes were staring right through Abdel.

“So, you think that you are clever enough to leave your quarters at night after lockdown, and follow Nuri do you.” There was enough sarcasm in his voice that you could cut it with a knife.
“No sir, I don’t think I do.” said Abdel, but in his thoughts he added, “I know I do.”

The dark eyes that were on that angelic face just continued to stair at him, trying to decide how to punish him, or learn what Abdel had seen or heard. That was a talent that Vanya seemed to have. Learning what someone knows, learning who someone is, and everything about them, by merely looking them in the eyes. The usual punishment for Abdel was three lashes by Gareth, a mountain of a man. Even though Abdel was a useful tool to have around, he was the least favorite of Vanya Crros.

Vanya waved a bored hand toward the door, which opened with a low-pitched scream. Gareth was standing right outside, ready to enjoy whatever punishment had been assigned to Abdel.

“He will not be punished tonight. He knows nothing. Take him to his quarters and lock his door.”

Gareth grabbed Abdel’s arm and hauled him to his closet of a bedroom, shoved him in, and locked the door; muttering the whole time, “Damn him, I was looking forward to lashing this one again. Vanya enjoys the screams as much as I do. Damn him, damn him to hell.” Gareth had shoved Abdel hard enough that he fell the short three feet between the door and his old bed. He hit his head on the bedpost, blacked out, and a small trickle of blood slid down his forehead.

Part 7

After telling everyone my story, they took me to Kiley’s for the remainder of that day. After all, it took a long time to find what was left of my things, and to find something to carry them in. When we finally got to Kiley’s house, and her Mom saw me, she started acting like a mother, cooing, and following me around everywhere. It would be enough to drive me insane if I had had to live with her. Happily I didn’t, or at least I hoped I wouldn’t have to.

Enrika left a little early, she had to get up early to help with a race in the morning. Christopher waited until we could be alone, kissed me, and told me he be back around 10 the next morning. The last look he gave me that evening was a very worried one. Naturally that made me just that much more uncomfortable.

Late that night after Kiley and her Mom had gone to sleep, I just laid there thinking. Kiley started tossing a turning, and eventually shouted out, “No! Don’t! Stop!” I shot out of bed and ran over to her bed to wake her up. She looked at me with a dismal expression.

“Dreaming of your Dad again?”
“Yea, every once and a while. I just can’t shake that last night he was here, I mean it was nearly a year and a half ago now.”

When everyone had first met Kiley’s Dad, they thought he was great. He knew how to make you laugh till you cried, and if you needed help, he was always right there for you. That was, unless he was drunk. Late one night, her father had come in so drunk that he really should have passed out in the bar. But, somehow he managed to make it home. He threw open the door, stumbled into Kiley’s Mom’s bedroom, and attempted to smother her with a pillow. Kiley heard the screaming, and ran in. She tore at his face with her fingernails. Finally he fainted, and appeared dead. Her Mom called the cops. Kiley couldn’t move because her own Dad’s blood was on her hands, and for Kiley that was just a little to disturbing. Her Mom had her Dad thrown in jail. He got out on good behavior and parole about eight months ago. And of course, he had to get drunk, and screw up the rest of what was left of his life. He came back to Kiley’s house, and mistook her room for her Mom’s room, and tried to smother Kiley instead. In the end, her father had gotten locked away for many more years to come. I guessed that that was she was dreaming about.

“You’ll be ok Kiley. Try and go back to sleep. I need you to help me figure out who shot up my house tomorrow, ok?”
“Ok, thanks Mina. G’night.”
“Night Kiley.”

I went over to her other bed, lied down, and finally went to sleep, she didn’t seem to have any more nightmares that night, at least not that I heard.


To be continued...